Rough spring, dry summer and wet fall in Texas

Published 4:32 am, Thursday, November 12, 2015

ICT RELEASE

Texas has experienced a variety of severe weather in all regions of the state this year resulting in high numbers of insurance claims and property and auto losses. April through June marks the stormy season for Texas and this year the weather patterns were right on cue. After the spring storms, Texas experienced what meteorologists called a “flash drought” followed by flooding.

Beginning in late March, multiple severe thunderstorms rolled across the state producing large hail, tornadoes and heavy rainfall. The spring storm season ended in late May and early June with flooding from the Red River to the Texas coast.

“Windstorm losses in both April and May were much higher than 2013 and 2014,” said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas. “There wasn’t one catastrophic storm that caused all of the damage. It was a non-stop pattern of severe storms that literally blanketed the entire state.”

Paid residential property losses in April and May were close to $900 million from 114,000 claims. These losses did not include business or auto claims. Last year, both months accounted for only 72,000 claims and $650 million in paid losses.

Texas homeowners and businesses reported almost 8,000 flood claims to the National Flood Insurance Program from the spring storms. In comparison, the total number of flood claims from all of Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma for the same time period was 579. With 95 percent of the claims settled, Texas flood losses to homes and businesses amounted to more than $400 million. Texas auto insurers say the losses from vehicles submerged in flood waters amounted to an additional $300 million.

Greg Carbin, meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, described our springtime weather as “incredibly extreme." Carbin said, “The combination of severe hail, tornadoes, and especially heavy rainfall, was devastating in some areas. Above normal severe weather activity was most prominent over northwest and central portions of the state. Historic rain and flooding extended across many areas.”

In June, the rainfall suddenly stopped and by the end of the summer, wildfires started erupting in north and central Texas with the Bastrop area getting hit the worst with the loss of nearly 60 homes.

“As soon as fall arrived, the drought-like conditions turned to another round of severe flooding in much of central and southeast Texas. Record rainfall flooded homes and submerged vehicles in the Austin and Houston areas,” Hanna said. “Total auto insurance losses for 2015 could reach $1 billion.”

The Insurance Council of Texas is the largest state insurance trade association in the country consisting of approximately 500 property and casualty insurers writing business in Texas. For more information click on www.insurancecouncil.org or follow us on Facebook at ICT On Facebook and Twitter @InsCouncilTx and @VoiceForTexas for other up to date news and information.